Grant Morrison's run on the Batman books introduced a whole lot of strange new elements to the character, from a storyline that saw Bruce Wayne tossed back to the Stone Age and former Robin Dick Grayson pulling on the cowl to the formation of Batman Inc, which franchised the moniker out to crime fighters across the globe. Along with brave new ideas like that Morrison also reached back into the character's weird history to bring back some cool concepts and characters he felt had gotten short shrift, including Lord Death Man. Originally appearing in the Japanese Bat-Manga, Lord Death Man is a supervillain who is immortal because he's really good at yoga, or something. Anyway, realising that he cannot be killed, which means his murderous rampages will never cease, the Caped Crusader comes up with a particularly brutal form of punishment for his enemy: imprisoning him in a rocket and shooting him up into space to circle the planet for all eternity, constantly dying of suffocation (he didn't provide him with much, if any, oxygen) and being resurrected, in a perpetual state of living and dying horribly forever. That's pretty hardcore, Bats. But hey, at least you didn't use guns! That's something, right?
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
